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Bethlehem 8th grader Matthew Vital wins 2019 Drive, Chip and Putt national title
April 7, 2019
Matthew Vital of Hanover Township, Northampton Country Club is a national champion.
Vital, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Lehigh Valley Academy, won the 2019 Drive, Chip & Putt national finals 12-13 years-old boys age group division Sunday morning at Augusta National Golf Club. The event was broadcast live on the Golf Channel.
The skills competition, which features two drives (take the best one), two chips shots (aggregate distance from the hole), and two putts (30 feet and 15 feet, aggregate distance from the hole) serves as a prelude to The Masters, which will be played this week.
Points are awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale based on a finish in a particular skill competition.
In third place after the driving competition (best drive 252.9 yards), Vital chipped in his second chip shot to forge a tie for the lead at 18 points. The chip shot landed 20 feet from the cup, and rolled left to right into the center of the hole.
Needing to have his two putts finish an aggregate distance of 5.1 feet from the cup or less to clinch the title, Vital rolled in a 30 footer. His 15 foot putt rolled gently passed the hole by 3.3 feet.
Although he placed third in the putting competition, Vital’s 26 points prevailed by 2.5 points over runner-up Ryder Cowan.
“It was a really hard putt”, Vital said in an interview on the 18th green afterwards. “When I saw it, it was looking really good. What I love (about golf) is going out to play with friends, hitting the ball down the fairway.”
All finalists and their family members received tickets to The Masters practice round on Monday.
To qualify for the 2019 National final, Matthew Vital won the local Drive, Chip and Putt qualifier at Moselem Spring Country club, the sub-regional at the Ace Club in Lafayette Hill, and the regional championship at Congressional Country Club last September 9. Eighty youth golfers advanced to the finals competition.
Matthew and his brother Michael, who placed second at the local Moselem Springs qualifier, are eighth grade students at Lehigh Valley Academy.
The Drive, Chip and Putt competition is conducted with a partnership between the Masters, USGA, and the PGA of America. Drive, Chip and Putt is a free, nationwide youth golf development program open to boys and girls, ages 7-15, in four age categories.
Matthew is one of the best junior golfers in the region.
Michael and Mathew began to play golf when they were two years old at the Bethlehem Golf Club practice facility. They began competing on the Lehigh Valley Junior Golf Tour age at the age of 8. The family are now members at Northampton Country Club.
At age 11 last year, Matthew became the youngest golfer to ever qualify for a match play flight at the Lehigh Valley Amateur.
Competing on the Lehigh Valley Junior Golf Tour, Matthew won 10 tournaments in 2017 at the age of 11 against a strong 12-13 years-old group.
This year at age 12, Matthew won six tournaments against the 14-15 years-old group. Matthew came from behind at the Lehigh Valley Sportfest Junior Golf Classic at Allentown Municipal Golf Course against standout junior golfer Jordan Barker to win 14-15 honors, and won the Iron Lakes Junior Boys Classic with a 1-over-par 68-73–141.
By winning a sudden-death playoff against Colin Wong at Whitetail Golf Club to win the 2018 Lehigh Valley Junior Medal Play Championship 14-15 years-old division.
In 2018, Matthew became the youngest golfer to ever earn an invitation to the season-ending Lehigh Valley Tournament of Champions.
Matthew was the US Kids North Jersey tour player of the year for the last 2 years.
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